"They just can't find the workers," said Terry Riley, executive director of the Hampton Roads Technology Council, a private, nonprofit group representing the region's high-tech companies. "It is a problem."

Across the country, the number of unfilled high- tech jobs now tops 346,000, according to the Information Technology Association of America.

And the problem may only have just begun. By industry estimates, about 130,000 new technology workers will be needed each year for the next 10 years.

Universities, desperate to find qualified applicants for master's and doctoral programs in math and sciences, have had to recruit candidates from overseas. Already, about a third of all master's degrees in high-tech fields are awarded to foreign nationals.

Yet because of strict limits on immigration, many of these students are barred from filling needed jobs in American companies upon graduating.

"We're exporting our seed corn," complained Ken Wasch, president of the Software and Information Industry Association, which represents about 1,400 high-tech companies nationwide. "We're sending them back to their own countries, where they will be competing against our companies."

In a modest attempt to close the shortfall, Sen. Charles S. Robb, D-Va., introduced legislation last week that would allow more foreign nationals with top science and technology skills to work for American companies.

The bill would create a new category of visa, a so-called Tech visa, that could be awarded to international students who graduate from master's or doctoral programs in mathematics, science, engineering or computer science. The students would become eligible for a visa if they receive a job offer from an American company with an annual compensation, including benefits, of at least $60,000.

"The engine of high technology runs on human fuel," said Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., a co-sponsor of the bill. And with only 24,000 students graduating each year with a bachelor's degree in the sciences, he said, "We're running dry on human fuel."

But the bill could face a tough road to passage. Although Robb said he expects bipartisan support, no Republicans have signed on so far. Those seeking to further limit immigration could raise objections to the measure.

"I understand - and support - limits on immigration," Robb said. "But when visa caps are forcing recent graduates of American master's and Ph.D. science programs to leave the country, we get into a situation where we're losing our seed corn."

Robb said the impact of his bill would be small, applying to perhaps no more than 10,000 graduates each year.

"We're talking about a small pool," he said. "This is very targeted to get precisely the people we can't produce enough of here."

With time running out on this year's legislative clock, senators cautioned that the bill may not come up for a vote until early next year.

TOBACCO TEAMMATES. Democratic Sen. Charles S. Robb and former Republican Gov. George F. Allen could face a nasty showdown for Robb's Senate seat next year. But the two contenders made clear last week they agree on at least one thing: sticking up for Big Tobacco.

Both men made efforts to denounce a civil lawsuit filed by the Justice Department against the nation's major tobacco companies, which accuses the industry of consumer fraud and seeks billions of dollars in health-related expenses on behalf of taxpayers.

While neither man offered much praise for the companies - which include Richmond tobacco giant Philip Morris - they warned that a lawsuit would cripple tobacco growers and other workers whose jobs are tied to the tobacco industry.

"If you persist in going forward, every farmer in Southside and Southwest Virginia will know that your real mission is to put him out of business," Allen wrote to President Clinton. "And the precedent you set will leave many good, working people across America fearing that their jobs could be the government's next target."

Robb, in a statement, said, "As we know from the devastation caused by recent droughts and floods, tobacco growers face enough uncertainty with the weather; they should not have to face additional uncertainty at the hands of their own government. A lawsuit is an uncertain, and unwieldy, way to forge public policy."

What might explain the rare bipartisan agreement? Tobacco is king in Virginia, where the golden leaf has long been the state's largest cash crop.

QUIP OF THE WEEK: Rock singer Courtney Love, on her choice for president:

"Since Bill Bradley admitted he smoked pot the other night, he won my heart."